Jacqueline Ames
Red is a statement color. There are no two ways about it. When you walk into a room wearing a red dress, you are going to be noticed.
Red is bold, sexy and can project confidence. But red is a color you have to own and style out properly, otherwise you will get lost in the red and all anyone will see is the dress.
The cosmetics you wear are just as important as your shoes and accessories to pull your whole look together. But what color eyeshadow do you choose to go with a red dress?
In this article we are going to go over some different options for eyeshadow with a red dress, give you a few pointers on what to avoid and answer some red dress FAQs along the way, so you can walk into a room wearing your red dress looking fabulous, instead of your red dress wearing you.
Contents
Should Eyeshadow Match The Dress?
This is a frequently asked question to which the answer for most color dresses can be ‘yes’.
However, if you’re talking about a red dress, that’s a whole different story.
DON’T wear red eyeshadow with a red dress. In fact, don’t wear red eyeshadow, period.
Unlike with shoes, bags, lipstick or nail polish, red is not an option for eye shadow when it comes to a red dress.
What makes red eyeshadow different from other outfit accessories is that you wear it on your eyes. Red (especially if you have pale skin) around your eyes is likely to make you look like you either have been crying all night, have severe allergies, an eye infection, or you just got twice punched in the face.
Red eyeshadow will also highlight any blood vessels in your eyes as well as the pinkness of your lacrimal caruncle, which is the small, pink, bulbous spot at the inner corner. This all makes for a rather inflamed look that will have people more likely handing you bags frozen of peas or tissues, than their contact information.
There are much more complementary eyeshadow colors that work well with a red dress that won’t make you look like you need a tub of ice cream, an antihistamine, antibiotics, or should be filing a police report.
Eyeshadow With A Red Dress
When you wear a red dress, everything else can very easily just kind of fade into the background. A red dress should get people’s attention to notice YOU. So you need to make sure you are projecting something worthy of notice, besides the dress.
This makes preparing makeup for such a statement colored dress a bit of a challenge.
When it comes down to it, you have 3 choices for eyeshadow and the dress you’re wearing: to match, to complement or to go neutral.
Now for a red dress, we just explained why you should NOT match your eyeshadow to your dress. So you are now left with two options: to complement or to go neutral.
1. Complementing Eyeshadow – Green Eyeshadow for Warm Reds
Green is red’s complimentary color. Depending on whether your red dress is a warm red, that’s to say a red that has more yellow or a cool red that has more blue, will dictate which greens you should choose.
This is a warm green eyeshadow look that will work with a warm red dress.
Now while green can be stunning and is the perfect compliment to red, it’s also a very bold color. Green is better for those with darker hair and eyes which can hold their own with this saturation of color.
The combination of a red dress and green eyeshadow will overpower light eyes and light hair.
If you choose to opt for green eyeshadow, keep the rest of your makeup neutral and go for a nude lip and nails. You don’t want to end up looking like a Christmas elf.
2. Complementing Eyeshadow – Plum Eyeshadow for Cool Reds
While green is red’s complementary color on the color wheel, you don’t have to take the ‘complementary color’ thing so literally. A complementary color is really any color that doesn’t clash, but complements the other color and sets it off in a good way.
The best way to think about complementary colors is in terms of warm and cool tones. Warm reds will look best with warm eyeshadow colors and cool reds will look best with cool eyeshadow colors.
Deep plums and dusty pinks can look great with a cool red dress. This color combo is not as harsh and heavy as a black and grey smokey eye. And if you pair these eyeshadow colors up with a matching deep plum mascara, these colors will make the whites of the eyes brighter and make your eyes look bigger.
If you are using pink eyeshadow in combination with the plum, make sure it’s a dusty pink that leans more toward brown than blue. Pink tends to have the same effect as red eyeshadow when it comes to making you look like your eyes are swollen, which is NOT the look you want to be going for.
This below, however is the look you want to be going for and you can get it with ILIA’s Necessary Eyeshadow Palette in cool nude.
3. Neutral Eyeshadow – Neutrals for Warm or Cool Reds
Neutral browns and beiges look fantastic with a red dress. Although neutral colors go with everything, you should be looking for a warm or cool neutral palette, depending on whether your dress is a warm or cool red.
Here is a great example of a warm neutral palette. You can get this look with NYX PROFESSIONAL MAKEUP Ultimate Warm Neutrals Eyeshadow Palette .
Going neutral on the eyeshadow means you can go bolder on the lip if you want to. These colors are also great for those with light eyes and hair because they will not overwhelm a fair complexion.
As you can see in the photo below by her cool pinkish complexion, she’s nailed the right red for her cool undertones and the cool neutral eyeshadow. Although this is the same color combination as above, this cooler version has a totally different effect. For this look you will want to go with cool neutrals like Erinde Matte Nude Eyeshadow Makeup Palette in 04#Cement.
What Nail Colour Goes With A Red Dress?
There’s more than one right answer to this question. There are several nail polish colors that will look fantastic with a red dress. The right color for your red dress, however, will depend on a few different factors.
If you were looking for the ‘in a nutshell’ short answer version, nudes go amazingly well with red, as does black and grey, which are all pretty safe bets. Depending on the color of red of your dress, gold and silver can work, as can orange or even purple, depending on the color. Likewise, olive green or teal can also look great, but not on the same red dress. It really depends on what color red your dress is.
That’s probably not the quick, one-off answer you were looking for, but the truth is, the answer is not that simple to be summed up in a paragraph or two.
But don’t worry… we have written a whole separate article about What Color Nails with a Red Dress that goes over everything. It will not only show you how to determine what color nail polishes go best with different reds, so your nails don’t end up horribly clashing, but also how to choose the right nail colors that will look good on you.
Take Away
Red is a bold and daring color. Not many people would dare to wear red because of the attention it will garner. So first of all, good for you for choosing red. This color choice makes you brave and courageous!
Just don’t forget that it’s not enough just to get people’s attention – you could do that by walking in and lighting firecrackers!
But if you want to keep that attention on you after the initial attraction, best make sure that you have styled you and your red dress out properly.
If you’ve got yourself a red dress, be sure to also read What Color Nails For A Red Dress and What Colour Shoes Go With A Red Dress before stepping out.
